diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/generate-workspace-id.spec.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/generate-workspace-id.spec.ts
index 679cbd06b95cfc..b16bbbac8b2c63 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/generate-workspace-id.spec.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/generate-workspace-id.spec.ts
@@ -27,5 +27,19 @@ const expect = chai.expect
         expect(longestName.length <= 36, `"${longestName}" is longer than 36 chars (${longestName.length})`).to.be.true;
     }
 
+    @test public async testCustomName() {
+        const data = [
+            ['foo','bar','foo-bar-'],
+            ['f','bar','.{2,16}-bar-'],
+            ['gitpod-io','gitpod','gitpodio-gitpod-'],
+            ['this is rather long and has some "§$"% special chars','bar','thisisratherlong-bar-'],
+        ]
+        for (const d of data) {
+            const id = await generateWorkspaceID(d[0], d[1]);
+            expect(id).match(new RegExp("^"+d[2]));
+            expect(new GitpodHostUrl().withWorkspacePrefix(id, "eu").workspaceId).to.equal(id);
+        }
+    }
+
 }
 module.exports = new TestGenerateWorkspaceId()
diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/generate-workspace-id.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/generate-workspace-id.ts
index a9e8e6f7e0fbb2..ab4a365d8aa423 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/generate-workspace-id.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/generate-workspace-id.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,25 @@
  */
 import randomNumber = require("random-number-csprng");
 
-export async function generateWorkspaceID(): Promise<string> {
-    return (await random(colors))+'-'+(await random(animals))+'-'+(await random(characters, 8));
+export async function generateWorkspaceID(firstSegment?: string, secondSegment?: string): Promise<string> {
+    const firstSeg = clean(firstSegment) || await random(colors);
+    const secSeg = clean(secondSegment) || await random(animals);
+    return firstSeg+'-'+secSeg+'-'+(await random(characters, 8));
+}
+
+function clean(segment?: string) {
+  if (segment) {
+    let result = '';
+    for (let i =0; i < segment.length; i++) {
+      if (characters.indexOf(segment[i]) !== -1) {
+        result += segment[i];
+      }
+    }
+    if (result.length >= 2) {
+      return result.substring(0, 16);
+    }
+  }
+  return undefined;
 }
 
 async function random(array: string[], length: number = 1): Promise<string> {
diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/gitpod-host-url.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/gitpod-host-url.ts
index 69920ac7b9a66f..f713bb1d49bd8b 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/gitpod-host-url.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/util/gitpod-host-url.ts
@@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ export interface UrlChange {
 }
 export type UrlUpdate = UrlChange | Partial<URL>;
 
-const basewoWkspaceIDRegex = "(([a-f][0-9a-f]{7}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{12})|([0-9a-z]{2,16}-[0-9a-z]{2,16}-[0-9a-z]{8}))";
+const baseWorkspaceIDRegex = "(([a-f][0-9a-f]{7}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{12})|([0-9a-z]{2,16}-[0-9a-z]{2,16}-[0-9a-z]{8}))";
 
 // this pattern matches v4 UUIDs as well as the new generated workspace ids (e.g. pink-panda-ns35kd21)
-const workspaceIDRegex = RegExp(`^${basewoWkspaceIDRegex}$`);
+const workspaceIDRegex = RegExp(`^${baseWorkspaceIDRegex}$`);
 
 // this pattern matches URL prefixes of workspaces
-const workspaceUrlPrefixRegex = RegExp(`^([0-9]{4,6}-)?${basewoWkspaceIDRegex}\\.`);
+const workspaceUrlPrefixRegex = RegExp(`^([0-9]{4,6}-)?${baseWorkspaceIDRegex}\\.`);
 
 export class GitpodHostUrl {
     readonly url: URL;
diff --git a/components/server/ee/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts b/components/server/ee/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
index ad4b0e5fde0404..4511309186a5da 100644
--- a/components/server/ee/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
+++ b/components/server/ee/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import { LicenseEvaluator } from '@gitpod/licensor/lib';
 import { Feature } from '@gitpod/licensor/lib/api';
 import { ResponseError } from 'vscode-jsonrpc';
 import { ErrorCodes } from '@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/messaging/error';
-import { generateWorkspaceID } from '@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/generate-workspace-id';
 import { HostContextProvider } from '../../../src/auth/host-context-provider';
 import { RepoURL } from '../../../src/repohost';
 
@@ -220,7 +219,7 @@ export class WorkspaceFactoryEE extends WorkspaceFactory {
                 }
             }
 
-            const id = await generateWorkspaceID();
+            const id = await this.generateWorkspaceID(context);
             const newWs: Workspace = {
                 id,
                 type: "regular",
diff --git a/components/server/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts b/components/server/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
index 2c7bda9b6e4b10..610498e8343bf2 100644
--- a/components/server/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
@@ -5,13 +5,14 @@
  */
 
 import { DBWithTracing, TracedWorkspaceDB, WorkspaceDB, ProjectDB, TeamDB } from '@gitpod/gitpod-db/lib';
-import { AdditionalContentContext, CommitContext, IssueContext, PullRequestContext, Repository, SnapshotContext, User, Workspace, WorkspaceConfig, WorkspaceContext, WorkspaceProbeContext } from '@gitpod/gitpod-protocol';
+import { AdditionalContentContext, CommitContext, IssueContext, PrebuiltWorkspaceContext, PullRequestContext, Repository, SnapshotContext, User, Workspace, WorkspaceConfig, WorkspaceContext, WorkspaceProbeContext } from '@gitpod/gitpod-protocol';
 import { ErrorCodes } from '@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/messaging/error';
 import { generateWorkspaceID } from '@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/generate-workspace-id';
 import { log } from '@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/logging';
 import { TraceContext } from '@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/tracing';
 import { inject, injectable } from 'inversify';
 import { ResponseError } from 'vscode-jsonrpc';
+import { RepoURL } from '../repohost';
 import { ConfigProvider } from './config-provider';
 import { ImageSourceProvider } from './image-source-provider';
 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ export class WorkspaceFactory {
             // Basically we're using the raw alpine image bait-and-switch style without adding the GP layer.
             const imageSource = await this.imageSourceProvider.getImageSource(ctx, user, null as any, config);
 
-            const id = await generateWorkspaceID();
+            const id = await this.generateWorkspaceID(context);
             const date = new Date().toISOString();
             const newWs: Workspace = {
                 id,
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ export class WorkspaceFactory {
                 throw new Error(`The original workspace has been deleted - cannot open this snapshot.`);
             }
 
-            const id = await generateWorkspaceID();
+            const id = await this.generateWorkspaceID(context);
             const date = new Date().toISOString();
             const newWs = <Workspace>{
                 id,
@@ -166,7 +167,7 @@ export class WorkspaceFactory {
                 }
             }
 
-            const id = await generateWorkspaceID();
+            const id = await this.generateWorkspaceID(context);
             const newWs: Workspace = {
                 id,
                 type: "regular",
@@ -207,4 +208,16 @@ export class WorkspaceFactory {
         return context.title;
     }
 
+    protected async generateWorkspaceID(context: WorkspaceContext): Promise<string> {
+        let ctx = context;
+        if (PrebuiltWorkspaceContext.is(context)) {
+            ctx = context.originalContext;
+        }
+        if (CommitContext.is(ctx)) {
+            const parsed = RepoURL.parseRepoUrl(ctx.repository.cloneUrl);
+            return await generateWorkspaceID(parsed?.owner, parsed?.repo);
+        }
+        return await generateWorkspaceID();
+    }
+
 }
\ No newline at end of file